At Sunset
by kayla-thebored
Summary: 5 years after the war, Peeta and Katniss are finally together, for real. So when Katniss agrees to go to the lake with Peeta, something unexpected happens after playing a game of Real or not real. Does she say real this time or does she no? Might be a little OOC. Full of fluff and cheesyness. One-shot!


**Disclaimer: I do not own the awesomeness that is the Hunger Games.**

**Hey guys! I just wanted to make another Hunger Games one-shot since I only have one. They might be a little OOC, I don't know, because I know the characters well enough, but I'm not sure if I can write them as accurately as the Percy Jackson characters, so if they are OOC, please forgive me.**

**READ, ENJOY, REVIEW!**

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I wake up to the faint smell of cheese buns, bacon, eggs and coffee coming from the kitchen. I turn to my left and sure enough, the space was empty. I lazily sit up and untangle the covers from myself and drag myself downstairs.

As I descend down the stairs, the smell of food gets stronger and I drag myself a little faster. I inhale the aroma one more time as I reach the kitchen before pushing the door open. When I enter, I see Peeta putting the last of the bacon on one of the plates.

"Good morning." He said as he gave me one of his signature smiles. "I made breakfast."

"Good morning." I said back with a small smile.

I pour coffee in my mug as he places the dirty pans in the sink. After taking a sip of my coffee do I only notice that Peeta looks like he had just woken up, even though he has been awake for at least an hour. The plain white shirt he was wearing was a little wrinkled and his hair was still messy and uncombed, I also realize that he had not put on his pants since he was still in his boxer shorts.

"Checking me out?" he teased and I blush slightly.

"Maybe, maybe not." I said with a smirk, my face still a little red.

He chuckles a little and pulls a chair out for me. I take my mug and sit down while he sits across from me.

"So, how'd you sleep?" he asks as he takes a bite from his cheese bun.

I sigh "I've had better nights." I said and he nods "You?"

"Not too bad." He said and I nod.

"So, are you going hunting today?" he asks

I look out the window to see the weather. It's almost fall so hopefully the weather might be a little cool today.

I shrug "Maybe. I don't know yet."

"Oh, well, I thought you might want to go to the lake today, but it's alright if you're hunting." He says

I look up from my food and look at him with my eyebrows scrunched slightly "You want to go the lake?" I asked

I had first brought Peeta to the lake 4 years ago, just a few months after the events of the war and the downfall of the Capitol, just a few months after Peeta and I had started to talk and socialize with each other again. That was the day that we had realized in our minds that we needed to stick together from then on.

He shrugs "Yeah, I mean, it's been a while since we went there and I thought it'd be a good place to pass time for a day."

The last time we went there was a few months back, just after winter had finished and the lake was starting to defrost.

I nod "It has been a while." I look out the window once more and then turn back to Peeta "Okay. Let's go to the lake."

He smiles brightly at me "Great." He beams "We could have a picnic and we could swim."

I nod "I'd like to swim, but we have to check on Haymitch first."

"Of course." He said

After that, we just talked about random stuff like his paintings and Haymitch's geese. Once we finished breakfast, I started to collect the plates but Peeta stopped me, insisting that he wash the dishes. I argued at first but he had already scrubbed the first plate, earning him a glare.

Right now, I am watching him as he washes the dishes, a big smile plastered to his face. I've only seen him smile like this a few times. Sure, he smiles a lot, but not like this. Today, he just seems genuinely happy, for what reason, I don't know.

"Why are you smiling?" I ask him, a small scowl on my face.

"Why _aren't you_ smiling?" he teases and this only deepens my scowl.

"I'm serious Peeta, why are you so happy today?" I asked him

"Well, because you're going to the lake with me today." He said with a smile.

"I could've gone to the lake with you any other day, and I did, but you weren't as happy as you are now." I said

He chuckles a little as he wipes his hand on a towel "Is it wrong to be happy Katniss?" he asked "Maybe, I just woke up at the right side of the bed." He chuckles "Cheer up. Smile." He said as he put his hands on my shoulders.

"Do I have to force that smile on your face?" he asked in a teasing voice.

I sigh and give him a small smile. "That's it!" he said cheerfully and I can't help but smile bigger. Just seeing him like this, being more cheerful and carefree than usual, like the way he was before the games, makes me smile.

He pulls me into a small hug and kisses my temple. "I'm going to paint a little, then later I'll set up our picnic basket then we can go." He said and I nod. We walk out the kitchen and he goes up the stairs towards his study where he paints while I go to the living room and sit on the couch.

I ponder for a moment on why Peeta was so happy. It's only a trip to the lake; we've done that numerous times. Did something happen that made him especially happy? I sigh and tuck my legs under me. Beside me, I hear small hiss. I turn and see the annoying little cat, also called Buttercup, next to the sofa, hissing at me.

I roll my eyes at him and stand up, heading towards the kitchen as he follows me. The little cat is lucky that I don't have to cut him up and cook him just to feed my family.

I reach the kitchen and take a can of sardines from the cabinet and put it in a bowl and set it down for it to eat. He hisses at me first before indulging himself with his breakfast. I look at him as he eats, my mind wandering off to his previous owner.

I hate this cat. I hate him even more now, because even though it has been five years, it still reminds me of Prim. Sometimes I just want to throw it away and leave it somewhere far away that it won't find its way back, but, I can't. Because even though he's one of the things that reminds me of Prim's death, he is also the only thing, other than me and my mom, that was the closest to her.

I remember the times she had protected this thing from me and the way she adored it that I just couldn't let the thing go. He hisses at me one more time and snaps me out of my trance as he walks away from his empty bowl.

When I kneel to take his bowl, I notice that my left cheek is wet. I wipe away the single tear that fell from my eye and take the bowl. After washing it, I look at the clock. It was only 10 o'clock, still a little early to go to the lake. I would've crossed the fence now if I was hunting, but since I had nothing else to do, I go up the stairs and go to Peeta's study.

I open the door quietly and enter his study. I see him sitting on his chair, one hand holding his pallet and one hand gently brushing on the canvas. He hears my footsteps and turns to me and smiles.

"Hey." He said

I take a stool from the corner and place it next to him and sit down "Hey." I said before he resumes painting.

"What are you painting?" I ask him as I study the painting.

"The lake." He answers as he adds a little detail on the trees surrounding it.

"What time are we going?" I ask him

"We can go soon, I'm almost done, just a few more little details." He said and I nod.

A few minutes later, he sets his brush and pallet down on the table and beams at his new work.

"Done." He smiles

I look at the picture and it was exactly how the lake looked like during the summer.

"How do you know it looked like this during summer? The last time we went there was just after winter ended." I asked him

"I remembered from our trip last year, during the summer." He said

"You still remember that?" I ask him

He nods "Yeah, it was a beautiful day then." He said

I smile "I'm sure it'll be beautiful today too." I said

He smiles at me "I'll go prepare our basket so we can go." He said before practically sprinting to the kitchen. I shake my head slightly with an amused smile. He is such a kid.

30 minutes later we were ready to go. I decided to wear my swimsuit under my clothes and tied my hair with the usual braid while Peeta wore his swimming trunks as his shorts. I packed extra shorts for him and an extra shirt for me and a towel and put it in a small back pack, while Peeta prepared the things for the picnic.

After we were ready, we left the house and went to Haymitch's house. We found him on the sofa passed out, as usual, so I took a small towel from his bathroom and soaked it with water and wiped his face with it. He grunted a few times but kept sleeping. Peeta took out the loaf of bread he brought for Haymitch and put a note beside it.

We left this house minutes later after tidying it up a bit and made our way towards the forest. As we walked, Peeta held my hand, swaying it slightly, but I don't think he noticed. As we passed through town, people waved and smiled at us, greeting us with hello's and hi's. We would simply say hi back or wave at them.

We passed Peeta's new bakery, which he rebuilt along with a few other people's help. He rebuilt it right where their old bakery used to be. He had some people helping him run it like today, which was why he had this day off. He still feels sad about his family's death, I would be too, and I am. I tug on his hand as I see his smile slightly fall, just barely that most people wouldn't have noticed. But I noticed.

He turns to me and I smile at him. He smiles back and pulls me closer to him. Minutes later, we reach the fence, but we don't need to check for the light hum of the electricity anymore since they had disabled it long ago. We pass through it and I lead him to the familiar path towards the lake.

We've been walking for about 15 minutes now, and I know we're almost there. Throughout the walk here, Peeta never let go of my hand. I'm not complaining, I just couldn't stop noticing it when he slightly sways our hands between us. It felt nice.

I look straight ahead but before I see the lake, I hear it first. I hear the water flow and gurgle. I hear the water that drops over and in between big rocks. It sounds peaceful. And I'm sure Peeta hears it too by the way his smile widens. He squeezes my hand and pulls me with him as he runs to the lake. I couldn't help but laugh a little by how he's so excited. When we reach the lake and the open space, the cool wind hits us.

I inhale the fresh air with closed eyes as it continues to hit us. I look over at Peeta and see him doing the same. He opens his eyes and smiles at me. He then let go of my hand and put the basket and the bag on the grass. I helped him lay out the blanket. At first we just lied there, looking at the sky, my head resting on his chest as he wraps an around my waist, but then we couldn't resist the water that was no more than a few feet away from us.

So, I hide behind tree so we could both strip down to our swim suit. Peeta thought I didn't need to hide since he had seen all of me. Of course, I had to glare and punch him in the gut for that, while blushing madly. Now, here I was taking off my outer clothes behind a tree and revealed my red two piece swim suit.

My skin had become a little tan from all the hunting I had done this summer. I had regained my usual figure since Peeta had practically forced me to eat right the past 3 years and because of all the hunting. Peeta had told me a thousand times that I looked pretty, but I still find myself blushing at the thought of him seeing me in such a revealing outfit, but I had to wear this to swim, so I slapped myself before stepping out behind the tree.

Peeta was already dipping his legs in the water so I drop my clothes on the blanket and join him. He smiles at me as I approach him. I sit down beside him and dip my legs in the water too. Soon, I jump into the water and was glad that the water wasn't too cold and wasn't too warm either. The water was waist deep and before I move from my place, I take Peeta's hand and pull him with me.

He lets me pull him into the water and we start swimming around, splashing at each other and laughing around. He usually chases after me after I splash at him while I swim away from him. We play around for about an hour, it was hard to tell and I try to teach him more about swimming. A couple hours later Peeta rises from the water, little drops of water dripping from his body. He walks towards the blanket and takes the towel from the bag.

He pulls me out of the water and wraps me in the towel. While I wipe myself, he shakes his head and sprinkles me with water yet again. He smiles as he wipes the water he splashed me with from my face. After we dried off, we enjoyed the lunch Peeta had made and just laid down on the blanket, staring at the sky with my head on his chest and my hand resting beside my head while his arms wrapped around my waist, hearing only the chirping of the birds, the rustle of the leaves and the occasional hum of the strong wind that blows around us and also the light thumping of his heartbeat. It was peaceful.

From the west, I see that the sky had slightly turned orange. The sun was setting. I didn't even realize that we had already spent more than 7 hours in the lake. I turn my head to see that Peeta was also looking at the sunset, a small smile plastered on his face. I don't know why but I wrap my arms around him and hug him tightly. He notices this and looks at me with a smile. I smile back and close my eyes.

We just stayed there, lying in each other's arms, so peaceful. This was the most peaceful I have felt in a few months, and I was grateful for Peeta. I wanted to stay right there forever. But, apparently, Peeta had other plans.

"Hey Katniss?" he asked in a soft voice.

"Hmm?" I answer back.

"Can we play real or not real?" he asked

I open my eyes and scrunch my eyebrows, wondering why he wanted to play now.

"Sure." I said

"You had fun today. Real or not real?" he asked

I smiled "Real."

"You want to do this again. Real or not real?" he asked

Again, I smile "Real."

"You want to stay here forever. Real or not real?" he asked

"Real."

"You love me. Real or not real?"

I pause for a minute, wondering why he would ask me this when he already knew the answer.

"Real." I answer

"You would never leave me. Real or not real."

"Real. Peeta why are you aski—"

"You'll always be there. Real or not real?"

"Peeta, why are you asking me these ques—"

"You'll marry me. Real or not real?"

I stop dead on my tracks. I'm not sure if I had heard him right, but if I hadn't, what else could he have said? I could feel my heart pounding on my chest; it was beating so fast I thought it would explode. Did he really just ask me to marry him? Just five years after the war.

Slowly, I sat up, letting go of him and stared at the lake. The horizon was now completely orange and there was a tint of pink as the sun sets, Peeta's favorite time of the day. I wanted to say something, just something, but I couldn't form words. And if I could, what would I even say? I was never good with words. But I try anyway.

"P-Peeta, I-I don't-Wha-I don't know what-"

"Katniss." He said as he sits up beside me and takes my hand in his "You said you would never leave me. You said you would always be there. And if what you said were true, then this was bound to happen anyway, why not now?" he asked

"It's- it's just that I-I'm-" Why am I stuttering too much! I don't stutter!

"I'll never hurt you Katniss! You know that! Don't be scared! I'll always be there! Always." He whispers.

I stop. I could hear my heart pounding. Everything around me had gone silent and all I could feel were Peeta's hands on mine. He was right though, I was scared. I was scared of marriage. Because, as much as I want to be married to Peeta, marriages lead to children and I'm still scared of the thought. I know the games are gone, but I would still be scared. I would have nightmares.

"I'll always be there." He repeats "Always."

_Always. _That one word jars me back to reality. I imagine myself with Peeta. We look exactly the same only, happier. Suddenly, a little girl and a little boy run up to us and tackle us in a hug and I've never seen Peeta so happy. I've never seen myself so happy.

I feel a smile forming on my lips as I think of those two children. Of the smile on Peeta's face. He'll always be there, helping me, loving me, taking care of me. Taking care of them, someday, And before I could stop myself, I say;

"Real."

I look up to him and see him staring at me with a shocked expression. I could see in his eyes that he's still processing the word I had just said and I couldn't help but chuckle a little. This seemed to knock him out of his shock and his smile breaks into a huge smile.

"Real?" he asks excitedly

I nod "Real."

His smile widens even more and the next thing I know, he has jumped up and pulled me into a bone crushing hug. He carries me off the ground as he hugs me and starts spinning me. He laughs and I can't help but smile at him, a few giggles escaping my lips.

After much spins, he puts me down but doesn't let go of me. He hugs me one more time and he whispers in my ear;

"I love you."

"I love you too."

-LINE BREAK-

Later that evening, I awake in the middle of the night, not because of a nightmare, but because of how empty the space beside me feels. I feel the space beside me and sure enough, it's empty and cold, the usual warmth of the man who lays there gone. I open my eyes and look around our room and he was nowhere to be seen.

I stand up and take a look inside the bathroom. Not there. It's only 2 o'clock at dawn so he can't be making breakfast just yet, so I go to the one place that I know he would be in. I exit our bedroom before making my way to his study.

As I approach it, I see that the door is slightly ajar and that the lights were on. I peak inside and I see Peeta, sitting on his chair a new painting in front h=of him. I silently enter the room, my footsteps as light as a feather and I stand behind him.

I smile as I see his newly painted work. He had painted four different pictures in one huge canvas. The first one was of me splashing around water in the lake. The second one was when I was eating the lunch that Peeta had made earlier. The third was of me, with my head on Peeta's chest, a look of peace on my face. And the forth was Peeta and I with the sunset as the background.

He had lifted me off the ground and was smiling happily at me while I put my hands on his shoulder to steady myself, smiling back at him. The lake was seen behind us and the sky was such a beautiful color of orange and pink.

I couldn't help the smile that appears on my face as I look at the beautiful picture that Peeta had just painted. And before I could stop myself, I call his name.

"Peeta." It was a soft whisper, but he heard it.

He turns to me "Hey Kat, what are you doing up?" he asks

"It's beautiful." I said

He smiles and stands up. He walks towards me and wraps me in a hug.

"I made it especially for you." He said while I rest my head on his chest.

"Thank you."

He smiles at me and kisses my temple "Come on, let's sleep." He said and I nod.

He takes my hand in his and he pulls me to our bedroom. He lays me on the bed and covers me with the soft blanket before sliding in next to me. Now we lay in our bed, face to face, just looking at each other.

He smiles at me before saying "Good night."

And instead of saying good night, I lean in closer and lightly kiss him on the lips. He was slightly surprised but kisses me back.

After we pull away, I smile at him and say; "Good night."

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**Whoa! 3,832 words! Minus the author's notes! DANG! Probably the longest one-shot I've ever written! So I hope you guys like it since I worked really hard on it! If they were a little OOC, I'm sorry. I can't portray them as good as I can portray the PJO characters. Anyway, if you like this one-shot just review, favorite and do all the other good stuff.**

**THANKS!**

**Kayla-kepmpjac-112198**


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